Syria’s newly appointed President, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has expressed a willingness to normalize diplomatic ties with Israel, according to U.S. Congressman Cory Mills. Mills shared this development in an interview with Bloomberg after meeting Sharaa in Syria last week.
During their conversation, they reportedly discussed the possibility of lifting U.S. economic sanctions on Syria and the framework for a peace agreement with Israel.
Read more: US Begins Major Troop Reduction in Syria Amid Strategic Shift
President Ahmed Al Sharaa suggested that Syria could consider joining the Abraham Accords—an initiative led by former U.S. President Donald Trump to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab countries like the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco—if favorable conditions were met.
This development emerges amid intensified violence in Gaza. Since early Thursday, over 60 people have been killed due to ongoing Israeli airstrikes. Among the casualties are 12 members of the same family in Jabalia, northern Gaza, according to Palestinian medics.
Gaza’s Health Ministry reported that 1,978 Palestinians have died and over 5,200 have been injured since the ceasefire with Hamas ended on March 18, 2025. Since the war began 18 months ago, over 51,355 Palestinians have been confirmed dead, with the Gaza Government Media Office now estimating the true death toll to exceed 61,700 due to thousands still buried under rubble.
Following the January ceasefire collapse, Israeli operations have intensified, claiming over 1,900 additional Palestinian lives, displacing hundreds of thousands, and carving out a buffer zone inside Gaza.
Despite ongoing mediation efforts by Qatar and Egypt, supported by the United States, no resolution has yet been reached between Israel and Hamas. The conflict, sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and led to 251 hostages being taken, has since led to one of the deadliest campaigns in Gaza’s history.
